1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrically powered land vehicles, and particularly to a power system which produces electrical energy by extracting electrons from the ambient air to provide power to power and propel a wheeled, electrically powered land vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of electrical energy production systems have been proposed to operate and propel vehicles. However, electrostatic forces have never been utilized in conventional electrical energy production systems as an energy source to operate and/or propel a vehicle. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,743, issued to Giampiero Brusaglino et al. on Aug. 29, 1978, describes a propulsion system for a vehicle having a turbine unit with two electric generators that drive two electric motors connected to the wheels of the vehicle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,922, issued to Bruce F. Field in Apr. 4, 2000, shows an electric hybrid vehicle that combines a battery pack, electrically powered engine, and an internal combustion engine to provide a more efficient use of the battery pack while operating the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,421, issued to John R. Beattie et al. on Sep. 7, 1999, discloses an electrostatic propulsion system for a spacecraft using the interaction of electrostatic fields on charged propellant particles, such as ions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,700 B1, issued to Anthony I. Provitola on Mar. 19, 2002, discloses an electrical vehicle propulsion system whereby electrical energy is generated by a turbine alternator during vehicle motion to charge the batteries, thereby improving the performance of the vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,233, issued to Frank L. Wattendorf et al. on Jan. 28, 1964, shows a multiple electrode arrangement for producing a diffused electrical discharge. The device includes a high velocity expansion nozzle, an assembly for providing high-pressure gas, a central electrode, a plurality of sharply pointed electrodes, a source of cooling gas, and a source for applying a high alternating voltage. Electrical energy may be generated either as a direct or alternating current output.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,569, issued to George H. Miley et al. on Sep. 19, 2000, shows an electrostatic propulsion system using an inertial electrostatic confinement design having discharge plasma for generating ions that provide thrust when accelerated and expelled from propulsion system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,650, issued to Oliver C. Yonts on Feb. 14, 1967, describes an ion propulsion system for space vehicles wherein A.C. power is utilized for ion acceleration, thereby reducing the size and weight of required power supply components. The Yonts patent discloses a space charged neutralized beam for the ionic propulsion of a space vehicle having at least one pair of ion sources. Each of the sources includes a plurality of elongated cavities, a charge material disposed within the cavities, an A.C. heater mounted adjacent to the charge material in each cavity for heating and substantially completely ionizing the charge material, a source of A.C. power connected to each of the heaters, and an ion exit slit disposed in one wall of each of the cavities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,361, issued to Phillips in April 1991, discloses a turbine power plant that produces power from a high temperature plasma and high voltage electricity. A plurality of ion repulsion discharge chambers are situated along the perimeter of the turbine to accelerate the ions, and a condenser and pump are used to return the condensed gases to a plasma generator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,483, issued to the present inventor, E. H. Gonzalez, on Nov. 26, 2002 and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety in the current patent application, has offered some of the most significant advances in the field of electric energy production that generate energy from electrostatic forces.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a power system for an electrically powered land vehicle solving the aforementioned problems is desired.